Working class hero? John Lennon 'was closet conservative and fan of Reagan'

Daily Mail (UK) ^ | June 30, 2011 | David Gardner

[ConservativeStatement]

He is still revered around the world as a peace-loving working class hero.

But by the time he died, John Lennon was a closet conservative embarrassed by his radical past, according to his former personal assistant.

Fred Seaman claims that the former Beatle was a fan of Ronald Reagan, who went on to become America’s Republican president in 1981 and forged a close political alliance with Margaret Thatcher.

[ConservativeStatement]

The walrus was Paul. And the donkey.

[bgill]

“Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...

Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one”

Yep, sounds just like a staunch conservative - not.

[sailor4321]

Maybe my thinking is screwed up, but I thought that it was being conservative and a supporter of Reagan that made him a “working class hero” ... :))

[sailor4321]

You shouda seen the crap I believed when I was the age at which Lennon wrote these lyrics. I was also convinced that Linda Ronstadt was waiting just for me ... :))

[Doogle]

"..ain't buyin it"

[FatherofFive]

I thought the same after they wrote "Taxman" when faced with a 95% tax rate.

Let me tell you how it will be;
There's one for you, nineteen for me.
'Cause I’m the taxman,
Yeah, I’m the taxman.

Should five per cent appear too small,
Be thankful I don't take it all.
'Cause I’m the taxman,
Yeah, I’m the taxman.

(if you drive a car, car;) - I’ll tax the street;
(if you try to sit, sit;) - I’ll tax your seat;
(if you get too cold, cold;) - I’ll tax the heat;
(if you take a walk, walk;) - I'll tax your feet.

Taxman!

'Cause I’m the taxman,
Yeah, I’m the taxman.

Don't ask me what I want it for, (ah-ah, mister Wilson)
If you don't want to pay some more. (ah-ah, mister heath)
'Cause I’m the taxman,
Yeah, I’m the taxman.

Now my advice for those who die, (taxman)
Declare the pennies on your eyes. (taxman)
'Cause I’m the taxman,
Yeah, I’m the taxman.

And you're working for no one but me.

Taxman!

[jmacusa]

Right. John Lennon a conservative. Yeah sure, so was Jerry Garcia. Amazing now how so many people who mocked conservatism and Ronald Reagan are now all conservatives.

[gorush]

Yah, right. Next you’ll try to convince me that Joe McCarthy was the Godfather of Bobby Kennedy’s daughter...oh, wait, that’s true too.

[ConservativeStatement]

George Harrison in his book I, Me, Mine "We were actually giving most of it (money earned) away in taxes. It was and still is typical. Are we being punished for soemthing we have forgotten to do?"

[Fast Moving Angel]

Does this explain why there was a sealed FBI file on him?

[MindBender26]

When Lennon was living in NYC, and there was a need to buy the then-new bulletproof vests for the NYPD, but no money to do so, Lennon quietly wrote a $1,000,000 check to help protect the cops.

[Tanniker Smith]

Were George Carlin still alive, I wonder if he'd still believe that the wrong two Beatles died first.

You have to wonder what Lennon would've been like after 8 years of Reagan. Or would he have just kept quiet.

[Tanniker Smith]

Did you miss this part:
"by the time he died, John Lennon was a closet conservative embarrassed by his radical past,"

[chesley]

Well, all well and good, if true.

But, what did he do to atone for his outrageously destructive past?

[Terry Mross]

If he truly liked Reagan he would have said so in public.

[BobL]

“Yep, sounds just like a staunch conservative - not.”

Actually a lot of conservatives (Reagan included) would be PERFECTLY HAPPY living out their lives in peace. I imagine that day (i.e., when Muzzies leave us alone, for example), but I sure as heck want us to prepare for reality.

I don’t have a problem with JL’s lines though...if we were strong enough, we would have world peace.

[Starstruck]

If my music library only had conservative singers....Well it would suck.

[Jim Scott]

I can't see that it matters much what John Lennon's political convictions were, three decades after his untimely death by assassination. He was from a working class family and grew up in a working class town (Liverpool) but, like so many of us bought into the liberal BS while he was young. The drugs propelled a lot of young people in the '60's - who wanted to 'do' drugs without any negative legal ramifications - to adopt a strident liberal mindset. In America, the opposition to the war in Viet Nam (more specifically, being drafted to fight it) also fueled a lot of youthful liberalism. John Lennon was 40 when he died, a husband and father (and multi-millionaire) striving to avoid deportation from the United States (based on his prior drug convictions). I can believe that he would be moving away from mindless liberalism based on hedonism and see the value in what Ronald Reagan was promoting. I hope that is true but whether it is or not - and, so far, its unsubstantiated - I just don't think it is all that compelling. I like the Beatle's music. In the late 1960's I thought Lennon's liberalism was self indulgent and that he didn't know what he was talking about. I never, ever thought Lennon was a 'genius'. Simply a very talented musician who got luckly and grew very famous and very rich. Good for him. His political views? To quote Laura Ingrham: 'just shut up and sing'.

[P-Marlowe]

If my music library only had conservative singers....Well it would suck.

It would be all country, contemporary Christian, and 1940's standards.

BTW some of the best music ever written.